King of Sword and Sky
Page 88
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Instead, halfway down the hillside, they left the palace grounds and turned down a white stone road. Ellie's soft-soled, embroidered half boots whispered along the stone. A few chimes later, the mist began to clear, and they came to an enormous beautiful, columned structure built at the foot of a lacy, multitiered waterfall.
"This, Feyreisa," Venarra said, breaking her silence, "is the Hall of Scrolls, repository of all Fey knowledge since the dawn of the First Age."
Ellysetta tilted her head back, speechless with awe. The building appeared to grow right out of the hillside, and the sheer size of it was intimidating. She followed Venarra through the massive, towering columns into an exquisitely tiled entrance gallery, where a Fey woman in a sumptuous blue-green gown was waiting by the entrance.
"Feyreisa, this is Tealah vol Jianas, my assistant here in the Hall of Scrolls. If you ever need anything when you visit the hall, just call for either of us and we will come."
"Meivelei, Feyreisa." Tealah had a shy smile, warm blue-green eyes, and skeins of shining black hair hanging in waves down to her waist. "Nalia said you were bright as a star. I can see she was not exaggerating." Tealah bowed and waved a hand at the doorway behind her. "Teska, enter and be welcome."
Beyond the large, arching doors a massive and multilevel atrium opened up, stealing the breath from Ellie's lungs with its sheer magnificence. The glassed ceiling soared so high and so long, a tairen could easily take wing within its confines. Light filtered down, bright and plentiful, illuminating case after case containing piles of neatly stacked books and scrolls. Ringing the perimeter of the hall, five balustraded levels opened to the center of the atrium, whose floor was a neatly ordered field of tall bookcases and reading desks.
"How many books and scrolls are there?" Ellysetta asked. Compared to this wonderland of Fey history, Celieria's extensively stocked National Library was a meager collection.
"There are close to four million documents in the main hall. And there are five storage levels below this one, each containing at least three times the number of texts you see here."
"It would take a lifetime to read everything." The amount of knowledge waiting to be discovered was both staggering and exhilarating.
"Several lifetimes," Venarra corrected. "Even among the Fey, I can't think of a single keeper who ever managed it."
Ellysetta's heart sank. "But how will I ever have any hope of finding the information I need to save the tairen? Just reading the titles of the books on this one level will take me months."
"Come. I will show you." With a wave of one elegant, tapered hand, Venarra led Ellysetta down the curving staircase to the center of the hall, where an oval frame containing what appeared to be a clear sheet of silver-tinted glass was mounted on a pedestal.
"Mirror," Venarra said, and colors began to shift and swirl across the glass. A moment later, a beautiful, disembodied Fey face appeared in the glass. A Fey man's face, silvery pale and glowing, with blazing emerald eyes and hair the color of polished fireoak. The long strands of his fiery hair flowed around his face like billowing clouds of flame and smoke.
"This is the Mirror of Inquiry. Ask it to find a particular text or information about a particular subject, and if it exists in the hall, the Mirror will locate it."
"Why does it wear someone's face?"
"All the Mirrors do. No doubt the makers thought it would be easier to ask questions of a person than a blank sheet of glass." Her tone became brisk. "Which scrolls would you like to see first?"
"Perhaps you could recommend a good place to start."
Venarra hesitated as if surprised that Ellysetta had asked her for guidance, then said, "The kitlings are dying. Healing seems the obvious place to begin."
"I would agree, but neither Marissya nor I could sense any sort of physical ailment in the kitlings. They are healthy, yet they are dying."
"There are types of ailments that do not manifest themselves as obvious physical abnormalities. Even the best healer might easily overlook them."
"Then let's start there." Ellysetta offered a smile that went unreturned.
Venarra turned back to the shimmering oval glass. "Mirror, find all records in the hall regarding illnesses that cannot be detected by a healing weave, and bring them here to an available reading table."
The Mirror, which had been waiting patiently without a hint of expression on the face within, now shimmered with renewed life. The blazing emerald eyes of the disembodied visage slowly shut. The flame-kissed hair blew back as if on a sudden gust of wind, then began to billow gently again. When the Mirror's eyes reopened, they were filled with myriad sparkling green lights.
Ellysetta stepped back in surprise as the sparks streamed out, escaping the glass to swirl above the Mirror like a swarm of tiny fairy-flies before shooting off in every direction, leaving trails of shimmering green light in their wakes.
She spun around, trying to follow the paths of as many as she could. Dozens shot up to race around the upper levels of the atrium, performing a series of aerial acrobatics before zooming with guided precision towards specific scrolls and books inside the numerous bookcases. Each book and scroll the lights landed upon blazed with a sudden, electric green glow.
Venarra stepped out of the circle and walked towards the closest table. She'd taken only a few steps when the green lights came zipping back and splashed down in tiny bursts of bright color. First on the table, then on the floor beside the table, the explosions of color coalesced into rapidly growing piles of scrolls and books, all glowing with a green aura.
"This, Feyreisa," Venarra said, breaking her silence, "is the Hall of Scrolls, repository of all Fey knowledge since the dawn of the First Age."
Ellysetta tilted her head back, speechless with awe. The building appeared to grow right out of the hillside, and the sheer size of it was intimidating. She followed Venarra through the massive, towering columns into an exquisitely tiled entrance gallery, where a Fey woman in a sumptuous blue-green gown was waiting by the entrance.
"Feyreisa, this is Tealah vol Jianas, my assistant here in the Hall of Scrolls. If you ever need anything when you visit the hall, just call for either of us and we will come."
"Meivelei, Feyreisa." Tealah had a shy smile, warm blue-green eyes, and skeins of shining black hair hanging in waves down to her waist. "Nalia said you were bright as a star. I can see she was not exaggerating." Tealah bowed and waved a hand at the doorway behind her. "Teska, enter and be welcome."
Beyond the large, arching doors a massive and multilevel atrium opened up, stealing the breath from Ellie's lungs with its sheer magnificence. The glassed ceiling soared so high and so long, a tairen could easily take wing within its confines. Light filtered down, bright and plentiful, illuminating case after case containing piles of neatly stacked books and scrolls. Ringing the perimeter of the hall, five balustraded levels opened to the center of the atrium, whose floor was a neatly ordered field of tall bookcases and reading desks.
"How many books and scrolls are there?" Ellysetta asked. Compared to this wonderland of Fey history, Celieria's extensively stocked National Library was a meager collection.
"There are close to four million documents in the main hall. And there are five storage levels below this one, each containing at least three times the number of texts you see here."
"It would take a lifetime to read everything." The amount of knowledge waiting to be discovered was both staggering and exhilarating.
"Several lifetimes," Venarra corrected. "Even among the Fey, I can't think of a single keeper who ever managed it."
Ellysetta's heart sank. "But how will I ever have any hope of finding the information I need to save the tairen? Just reading the titles of the books on this one level will take me months."
"Come. I will show you." With a wave of one elegant, tapered hand, Venarra led Ellysetta down the curving staircase to the center of the hall, where an oval frame containing what appeared to be a clear sheet of silver-tinted glass was mounted on a pedestal.
"Mirror," Venarra said, and colors began to shift and swirl across the glass. A moment later, a beautiful, disembodied Fey face appeared in the glass. A Fey man's face, silvery pale and glowing, with blazing emerald eyes and hair the color of polished fireoak. The long strands of his fiery hair flowed around his face like billowing clouds of flame and smoke.
"This is the Mirror of Inquiry. Ask it to find a particular text or information about a particular subject, and if it exists in the hall, the Mirror will locate it."
"Why does it wear someone's face?"
"All the Mirrors do. No doubt the makers thought it would be easier to ask questions of a person than a blank sheet of glass." Her tone became brisk. "Which scrolls would you like to see first?"
"Perhaps you could recommend a good place to start."
Venarra hesitated as if surprised that Ellysetta had asked her for guidance, then said, "The kitlings are dying. Healing seems the obvious place to begin."
"I would agree, but neither Marissya nor I could sense any sort of physical ailment in the kitlings. They are healthy, yet they are dying."
"There are types of ailments that do not manifest themselves as obvious physical abnormalities. Even the best healer might easily overlook them."
"Then let's start there." Ellysetta offered a smile that went unreturned.
Venarra turned back to the shimmering oval glass. "Mirror, find all records in the hall regarding illnesses that cannot be detected by a healing weave, and bring them here to an available reading table."
The Mirror, which had been waiting patiently without a hint of expression on the face within, now shimmered with renewed life. The blazing emerald eyes of the disembodied visage slowly shut. The flame-kissed hair blew back as if on a sudden gust of wind, then began to billow gently again. When the Mirror's eyes reopened, they were filled with myriad sparkling green lights.
Ellysetta stepped back in surprise as the sparks streamed out, escaping the glass to swirl above the Mirror like a swarm of tiny fairy-flies before shooting off in every direction, leaving trails of shimmering green light in their wakes.
She spun around, trying to follow the paths of as many as she could. Dozens shot up to race around the upper levels of the atrium, performing a series of aerial acrobatics before zooming with guided precision towards specific scrolls and books inside the numerous bookcases. Each book and scroll the lights landed upon blazed with a sudden, electric green glow.
Venarra stepped out of the circle and walked towards the closest table. She'd taken only a few steps when the green lights came zipping back and splashed down in tiny bursts of bright color. First on the table, then on the floor beside the table, the explosions of color coalesced into rapidly growing piles of scrolls and books, all glowing with a green aura.
